Shakespeare's Shrew: Orthodoxy and Carnival
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Preiss, Richard. "Undocumented: Improvisation, Rehearsal, and the Clown." Rethinking Theatrical Documents in Shakespeare’S England
Preiss, Richard. "Undocumented: Improvisation, Rehearsal, and the Clown." Rethinking Theatrical Documents in Shakespeare’s England. Ed. Tiffany Stern. London: The Arden Shakespeare, 2020. 68–88. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 24 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350051379.ch-004>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 24 September 2021, 06:03 UTC. Copyright © Tiffany Stern and contributors 2020. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 4 Undocumented Improvisation, Rehearsal, and the Clown * Richard Preiss When a clown enters, we immediately recognize that he does not belong. The meter shifts to prose; his name is English, regardless of setting; he is not a lover, merchant, or king, but a servant, tradesman, or bumpkin; he is ignorant of the plot into which he has wandered, and unsure of what to do in it; his scenes go nowhere, degenerating into pratfall, patter, or miscarriage; he fails, at some level, to grasp the rules of being in a play – and he recognizes us, the audience, in turn. This chapter too does not belong; stage clowns have no place in a volume about documents. Clowning resists documentation: more than any other performer, clowns improvised, rendering the full scope of their contribution to early modern playing either invisible or lost. Lack of evidence, and the prejudice that clowns do not merit serious attention, has long been a methodological barrier to their study. This has given rise to certain distortions in theatre history. -
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES LC 5/133, Pp. 44-51 1 ______
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES LC 5/133, pp. 44-51 1 ________________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY The documents below are copies in the Lord Chamberlain’s Book of the petitions, answers and orders in a suit brought in 1635 before Philip Herbert (1584-1650), 1st Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, whose first wife was Oxford’s daughter, Susan de Vere (1587-1629). At the time of the complaint, Herbert was Lord Chamberlain of the Household. See the Shakespeare Documented website at: https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/exhibition/document/answer-cuthbert-burbage- et-al-petition-robert-benefield-et-al-concerning The complaint is described from the perspective of one of the defendants, John Shank (d.1636). From the ODNB: Shank invested in the King's Men, holding shares that had originally belonged to John Heminges. On his death in 1630 the heir, Heminges's son William sold them to Shank. It was these shares and those of the surviving members of the Burbage family that were the subject of the dispute recorded in the Sharers' Papers of 1635. Robert Benfield, Eyllaerdt Swanston, and Thomas Pollard, fellow King's Men, petitioned the lord chamberlain to allow them to purchase shares in the Blackfriars and the Globe theatres. Richard Burbage's widow, Winifred, by then remarried, and her brother-in-law Cuthbert objected, as did John Shank. An order was made to allow the petitioners to buy some of Shank's shares, but no agreement was reached about the price. So on 1 August 1635 the case was passed to Sir Henry Herbert for arbitration. The matter had still not been finally resolved by Shank's death in January 1636. -
Cambridge Companion Eng Renais Drama
This page intentionally left blank The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama This second edition of the Companion offers students up-to-date factual and interpretative material about the principal theatres, playwrights, and plays of the most important period of English drama, from 1580 to 1642. Three wide- ranging chapters on theatres, dramaturgy, and the social, cultural, and political conditions of the drama are followed by chapters describing and illustrating various theatrical genres: private and occasional drama, political plays, heroic plays, burlesque, comedy, tragedy, with a final essay on the drama produced during the reign of Charles I. Several of the essays have been substantially revised and all of the references updated. An expanded biographical and bib- liographical section details the work of the dramatists discussed in the book and the best sources for further study. A chronological table provides a full listing of new plays performed from 1497 to 1642, with a parallel list of major political and theatrical events. THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO ENGLISH RENAISSANCE DRAMA EDITED BY A. R. BRAUNMULLER AND MICHAEL HATTAWAY SECOND EDITION cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521821155 © Cambridge University Press 1990, 2003 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. -
The Closure of the Theatres GABRIEL EGAN De Montfort University
The Closure of the Theatres GABRIEL EGAN De Montfort University Like the Protestant Schism (or Reformation, depending upon which side you were on) around one hundred years earlier, the cataclysmic events of the English Civil War (1642–51) and the resulting Interregnum (1649–60) did not create an entirely unbridgeable rupture in the nation’s history, its collective consciousness, or even individuals’ personal experiences. Anthony Kitchin, the Bishop of Llandaff (1477–1563), for example, had the extraordinary experience of being a Roman Catholic bishop under Henry VIII, switching with him to the Protestant side in 1534, switching back when his daughter Mary I reinstated Roman doctrine in 1553, and switching to Protestantism again when Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth ascended her throne in 1558.1 Likewise, some people involved with theatre before the Civil War attempted to pick up where they left off when the eighteen-year closure ended in 1660. These included the state censor of plays Henry Herbert who held the role of Master of the Revels for half a century, from 1623 to 1673. This article will reconsider just what it meant for Caroline society to have its theatres abruptly closed (at least, officially) during the crisis of 1642, and what that meant in practice for particular members of the theatre industry. Until the 1980s, theatre historians usually told a quite straightforward and uncomplicated story about how the theatres came to be closed, and the story’s longevity is explained by its elegant simplicity and its ability to account for most of the known historical facts about theatre across the decades of English history from the Reformation to the Restoration and beyond. -
Playhouses and Players
1 R. A. FOAKES Playhouses and players When we look back at a distant historical period, it is easy to succumb to two temptations; the first is to see a sudden, sharp break with the past taking place at some date such as the coming to the throne of Elizabeth I (1558), or James I (1603), as though a transformation in all aspects of society happened in those instants. The second is to telescope the passage of decades of change into a single, homogenized period like ‘the age of Elizabeth’, as though forty- five years could be focused in a single, unchanging image. In our own lives we are continually alert to shifts and changes that make what happened or was in vogue ten years, five years, or even one year ago seem curiously old-fashioned and different now. Perhaps it has always been so, even when change was slower technologically. The period from 1558 to the end of the reign of Charles I saw the passage of eighty-four years, during which the theatre was transformed, and the drama startlingly expanded and diversified. It is perhaps unfortunate that the great standard works on the theatres and drama in this period should be entitled The Elizabethan Stage and The Jacobean and Caroline Stage.1 Yet any account of the period needs to begin with the recognition that there were many different stages as playhouses became more sophisticated, and that perhaps the only constant feature of the theatres up to 1642 was that all parts were normally played by men and boys; the professional companies in London had no actresses in them until after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. -
Exposing an Industry in Denial: Authorship Doubters Respond to “60 Minutes with Shakespeare,” Issued by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust on September 1, 2011
Exposing an Industry in Denial: Authorship doubters respond to “60 Minutes with Shakespeare,” Issued by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust on September 1, 2011 Organized and edited by John M. Shahan, Chairman and CEO Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, Claremont, California With a foreword by actor and author Michael York Date of publication: November 21, 2011 Organizations endorsing the SBT “60 Minutes” rebuttals Neutral about the true identity of the author De Vere Society of Great Britain www.deveresociety.co.uk Shakespeare Authorship Coalition doubtaboutwill.org International Marlowe-Shakespeare Society www.marloweshakespeare.org Shakespeare Authorship Research Center www.authorshipstudies.org Mary Sidney Society www.MarySidneySociety.org Shakespeare Authorship Roundtable www.shakespeareauthorship.org Neue Shake-speare Gesellschaft (Germany) shake-speare-today.de Shakespearean Authorship Trust (U.K.) www.shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org.uk Shakespeare Fellowship www.shakespearefellowship.org Organizations favoring specific candidates Shakespeare Oxford Society Francis Bacon Research Trust www.shakespeare-oxford.com www.fbrt.org.uk Sir Henry Neville as Shakespeare www.henryneville.com b 1 a Table of Contents List of “60 Minutes” questions and SBT and Doubter responders 1 Foreword by actor and author Michael York, M A , O B E 2 I Introduction and challenge to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 3 II Rebuttals to the Birthplace Trust’s “60 Minutes with Shakespeare” 6 Appendix A: Five key questions the SBT did not ask and cannot answer 70 1. What is the basis of claims that there is “no room for doubt” about who wrote the works? . 70 2. What do the six signatures often attributed to the Stratford man tell us about his writing?. -
Professionalization of Acting in Shakespeare's England
NCUE Journal of Humanities Vol. 9, pp. 151-164 March 2014 Professionalization of Acting in Shakespeare’s England Hui-chuan Wang Abstract The Elizabethan common players had a humble beginning. The 1572 Act for the punishment of vagabonds classed masterless and unlicensed “fencers, bear-wards, common players in interludes and minstrels” etc. as rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars. Nevertheless, by the 1590s when Shakespeare started writing his major plays for the Chamberlain’s Men, acting, at least what was done by the two officially licensed adult companies in London, was a bona fide occupation. Although the word “profession” has been freely used to describe the job of Elizabethan common players, the appropriateness of this usage is not certain since the word can only be applied in its broadest sense. We therefore need to begin by examining the meanings of “profession” in the context of the early modern period. This examination is then followed by a look at the history of the emergence of commercial theatre in the early sixteenth century to see how the common players’ professionalism evolved. Finally, concepts of profession will be used to discuss Shakespeare’s treatments of players and play-acting in his dramatic works. Shakespeare’s representation of players’ dependence on aristocratic patronage lags behind the reality of the commercial success of licensed companies. Yet, in suggesting players’ unique license to change identities and create theatrical illusions, pointing out the skills required to create such illusions, and not to mention composing psychologically complex characters for lead actors of his company, Shakespeare affirms that acting was on its way to become a profession. -
On the Actor Lists, 1578-1642 Author(S): F
On the Actor Lists, 1578-1642 Author(s): F. G. Fleay Source: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 9 (1881), pp. 44-81 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3677936 Accessed: 27-06-2016 02:31 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Historical Society, Cambridge University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the Royal Historical Society This content downloaded from 128.110.184.42 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 02:31:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ON THE ACTOR LISTS, 1578-1642. By F. G. FLEAY, M.A., Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. IT is singular that no attempt had been made to gather up these documents so fertile in suggestion and still more rich in definite evidence on many disputed critical and historical questions prior to the publication of my "Shakespeare Manual" in 1876. Collier had printed many lists in his " History of the Stage," but had not compared them or arranged them for comparison. My own former attempt is incomplete, partly because at that date I had no access to public libraries, and had to work on imperfect materials; partly because additional lists have been still more recently discovered. -
Theatrical Families, 1560-1660 1 Leaders: Eva Griffith, London and David Kathman, Chicago
2018 SAA Seminar: Theatrical Families, 1560-1660 1 Leaders: Eva Griffith, London and David Kathman, Chicago David M. Bergeron, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Kansas Theater Families and Pericles (1619) Three families associated with the theater converge in varying ways on the occasion of a performance of Pericles at the Jacobean court in Whitehall on 20 May 1619. The “presence” of these families will surprise no one: Burbage, Herbert, and Stuart. The historical context for this performance includes the recent deaths of Queen Anne and Richard Burbage, the serious illness of King James, and the publication of Pericles in the Pavier quartos. The 1619 performance of Pericles honored the French ambassador, who enjoyed a feast and the play. Richard Burbage was present through the recollection of William Herbert, Lord Chamberlain, who attended the feast but not the play because of the painful memory of Burbage’s death. But the Lord Chamberlain did write about the event. Another Herbert, Gerrard Herbert, also attended. His letter to Dudley Carleton gives us the only information that we have about the actual performance of Pericles. The identity of Gerrard Herbert remains a mystery, but we do know that he attended several performances, especially of masques, and wrote about them. He was, as evidenced in his letters, well acquainted with William Herbert and the court culture. Gerrard writes much about King James, but whether the king attended the play remains unclear. Another Stuart, Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Lennox, was present for the play and had in fact arranged the feast. He, too, had a substantial history of supporting the theater, including being patron of an acting company. -
The RSC Shakespeare Associate Editors
The RSC Shakespeare Associate Editors Trey Jansen, Eleanor Lowe, Lucy Munro, Dee Anna Phares, Jan Sewell Editorial Advisory Board Greg Doran, Chief Associate Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company Jim Davis, Professor of Theatre Studies, University of Warwick, UK Charles Edelman, Senior Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia Lukas Erne, Professor of Modern English Literature, Universite´ de Gene`ve, Switzerland Maria Evans, Director of Learning, Royal Shakespeare Company Akiko Kusunoki, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, Japan Ron Rosenbaum, author and journalist, New York, USA James Shapiro, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, USA Tiffany Stern, Beaverbrook and Bouverie Fellow and Tutor in English, University of Oxford, UK Editorial Assistants Christopher Campbell Esme Miskimmin Penelope Freedman Oliver Phillips James Gibson Paul Prescott Sophie Holroyd Charlotte Scott Ayako Kawanami Will Sharpe Takashi Kozuka Erin Sullivan The RSC Shakespeare edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen Chief Associate Editor: He´ loı¨se Se´ ne´ chal Macmillan ª The Royal Shakespeare Company 2007 Published by arrangement with Random House, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. -
Elizabethan Acting Companies, 1588-1594: Received Narratives and Historiographic Problems
ELIZABETHAN ACTING COMPANIES, 1588-1594: RECEIVED NARRATIVES AND HISTORIOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Terence G. Schoone-Jongen, B. A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2003 Master's Examination Committee: Approved by Dr. Thomas Postlewait, Adviser Dr. Alan Woods d~~~G Adviser Department of Theatre Copyright by Terence Guy Schoone-Jongen 2003 ABSTRACT Over the last century, the major studies of Elizabethan acting companies have all tended to operate under a variety of problematic assumptions. These assumptions are particularly evident in E. K. Chambers and W. W. Greg’s “amalgamation” hypothesis (which states that from 1590 to 1594 the Lord Strange’s and Admiral’s Men were joined as one company) and the various accounts of Pembroke’s Men. In this work, I have sought to mobilize all available evidence in an attempt to reconsider the received narratives about these companies, as well as the assumptions present in those received narratives. In the case of the “amalgamation,” a close study of the evidence reveals that there is little or no support for such a hypothesis, save that the hypothesis, if true, would support a number of traditional assumptions about provincial touring and acting company size. In fact, the surviving evidence actually appears to directly contradict the possibility of an “amalgamated” company. To date, the most thorough critique of the “amalgamation” hypothesis is Andrew Gurr’s “The Chimera of Amalgamation,” but here too several questionable assumptions are at work. I have identified some of these assumptions; I have also brought to bear other evidence and several considerations which Gurr’s argument does not deal with. -
Early Modern Theatre People and Their Social Networks Paul Brown
Early Modern Theatre People and Their Social Networks Paul Brown Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy De Montfort University January 2017 i Table of Contents Table of Figures .............................................................................................................. iii Abstract............................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... vi Note on Referencing ....................................................................................................... vii Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 The Social Network .................................................................................................. 1 The Scope and Structure of the Thesis ..................................................................... 6 The Social Network in the Early Modern Theatre and the Case for Biography .... 12 Chapter One: The Intersection of Personal and Professional Lives in Drama, Evidence and Interpretation ..................................................................................................................... 19 What constitutes evidence? .................................................................................... 25 Non-theatrical Evidence ........................................................................................